Questions regarding the response to a sneeze.

The questioner : I have questions concerning the response to a sneeze. If a man sneezed and did not praise Allah, is it recommended to remind him to praise Him?

The Shaykh : It is recommended not to remind him.

The questioner : And if he does remind him, does anything follow from that?

The Shaykh : We return to what we mentioned earlier: the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). It is reported in Sahih al-Bukhari and in some narrations, whose authenticity I do not recall at this moment, . So, if it had been part of his (peace be upon him) guidance to remind the sneezer who sneezed and did not praise Allah, as mentioned in the question, then teaching would not be done by a means other than the means followed by the Messenger (peace be upon him). This is one example among hundreds, if not thousands, of examples showing that the guidance of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) must first be received in its entirety, including its objectives and means, and then adopted as such. Therefore, one should not separate the objective from the means, as we hear from some preachers today or from some groups that we are free to change the means, and what matters is reaching the objectives. The answer is that the means the Messenger (peace be upon him) pursued and followed in calling people to faith and Islam, all of this must be adopted by Muslims. We do not separate the objective from the means. Now, we are facing a means: is it appropriate to tell the one who responds to the sneeze, "Praise be to Allah," so that he remembers? We do not remain silent so that the incident that occurred in the gathering of the Messenger (peace be upon him) is renewed, where one of the sneezers would say, "You responded to so-and-so's sneeze, but you did not respond to mine." We would say to him, "This is your reward because you did not praise Allah, Mighty and Majestic." In that case, there is an encouragement, whether direct or indirect, for him to learn the etiquettes and rulings of Islam. This is the answer to your question.